Kindle Fire Overview

Amazon has announced the release of its brand new Kindle Fire tablet lineup. It consists of some of the most aggressive pricing we’ve seen from Amazon. Although it shouldn’t come as a surprise, since Amazon has consistently offered high quality products at affordable prices.

However, the new Kindle Fire tablets are by no means top-of-the-line tablets. It’s clear Amazon’s focus is more on providing high consumption of its content than achieving high-end tablets to compete with Apple’s iPad.

By providing budget friendly tablets, Amazon aims to attract customers who are willing to splurge on additional content such as apps, movies & music, and of course books. They do this by adding what they call “special offers” to your lockscreen. Essentially special offers are advertisements used to entice you into spending more money on Amazon’s content.
Amazon’s new series of tablets are the Fire 7, Fire HD 8, and Fire HD 10. They join the existing line of Kindle tablets, the Fire 6 and Fire HDX 8.9.

Kindle Fire tablets will be available for purchase on September 30th, but Amazon is accepting preorders with free shipping now.

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, 8.9″ HDX Display – $379.99

The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9 is Amazon’s most powerful tablet. It features a beautiful 8.9 inch display at an incredible 2560 x 1600 resolution. The highest pixel density of any Kindle tablet at 339 ppi. An impressive 2.5 GHz quad core processor, which is capable of providing efficiency and speed for all your needs. But a powerful tablet does come at a price. While it is the most powerful tablet, it is also the most expensive Fire tablet.

This tablet has hardware that is more powerful than Apple’s iPad Air. Which is surprising because Amazon’s tablets are not meant to compete with high-end tablets, but rather provide a cheaper alternative. Nevertheless, the Fire HDX 8.9 is a multipurpose device capable of pushing the limits of modern tablets.

The hardware is great, but what about the content? A great tablet not only has to have a powerful performance, but also provide great content. Amazon has thousands of apps and millions of books, so you can enjoy movies, apps, games, books, and more from Amazon.

While the content and hardware is great, we just don’t know how well it compares to Apple’s iPad. After all, the Fire tablet is supposed to be a cheaper alternative, not relatively the same price as high-end tablets. Thankfully there are an abundance of options for you to choose from.

Kindle Fire HD 10, 10.1″ HD Display – $229.99

The brand new Kindle Fire HD 10 is Amazon’s largest display and the thinnest tablet. It features a sleek 10.1 inch display at a modest 1280 x 800 resolution and 149 pixel per inch. Though it’s not as powerful as the Fire HDX 8.9, it is more budget friendly and an incredibly capable device. And compared to Apple’s iPad Air, it is lighter and twice as durable.

It may not be as powerful as the Fire HDX 8.9, but it is considerably cheaper while also offering a larger display and a thinner build. The result is a tablet with a larger screen for a better viewing experience, while also maintaining comfort with its slim build.

Fire HD 10 is exceptional for watching your favorite movies and TV shows. It has been specially designed for entertainment in mind. You can watch all of your favorite movies and TV shows from Amazon Video, Netflix, HBO NOW, and more.

The larger screen gives you great satisfaction and pleasure while reading your next book. You can choose from over a million e-books and magazines. A tablet has a competitive advantage over e-book readers because books and magazines can be enjoyed in their full vibrant colors.

Kindle Fire HD 8, 8″ HD Display – $149.99

The Kindle Fire HD 8 is the same device as the HD 10, with the exception of the display size. It offers the same resolution, processing power, and internal storage. Although because of its smaller display it does have a higher pixel density, at 189 ppi. The same specifications, the same capabilities, just slightly smaller and $80 cheaper.

Perhaps a 10.1 inch screen is too big and you want something a little bit smaller. The Kindle Fire HD 8 is slightly smaller and comes with all the innards of the HD 10. So you can enjoy the powerful performance of the HD 10 but with a reduced cost.

The Fire HD 8 is the midway point between the HD 10 and HD 6. It’s $80 cheaper and $50 more expensive than the HD 10 and HD 8 respectively. And the only difference is the size of the Fire tablet. It’s two inches bigger and smaller respectively.

The 8 inch tablet is small enough to be portable and just big enough to make viewing movies and TV shows comfortable. It’s a great compromise between portability and functionality, without sacrificing too much of either one.

Kindle Fire HD 6, 6″ HD Display – $99.99

Kindle Fire 6 is the smallest and lightest tablet that Amazon has to offer. It has a stunning 6 inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 and a higher pixel density than all other Kindle HD tablets. And best of all the Kindle Fire 6 comes at an affordable price. At $99.99, it is the second cheapest Kindle tablet on Amazon’s market.

It may be the smallest tablet but it is certainly not the weakest. The small form factor allows this tablet to be portable and comfortable in your hand. It uses the same hardware as the Fire HD 8 and HD 10 and while it isn’t the cheapest tablet Amazon has to offer, it does come in at a close second.

The Fire HD 6 is the cheapest tablet that still retains the components of the Fire HD 8 and Fire HD 10. It is double the price of the Fire 7, but provides much more functionality and speed.

Though we are a bit skeptic about how comfortable your viewing experience would be on a 6 inch display. There’s something about watching movies on a screen the size of a large phone somewhat questionable.

But if you cherish portability then this device is perfect for you. Perhaps you want a device for reading purposes. While this device isn’t great for watching movies, it is the king at providing a superb reading experience.

Kindle Fire 7, 7″ Display – $49.99

The latest Kindle Fire 7 comes with a shockingly low price tag. The 7-inch color tablet is cheaper to build than an e-book reader. Just how much cheaper? It is $30 cheaper than the cheapest Kindle e-book reader at just $49.

The cheapest tablet comes at the expense of the hardware. It has the barebones of a tablet and its hardware is limited to serve only the tablet’s most basic needs. However, even tablets with limited hardware can do a lot these days.

The Fire 7 is capable of doing everything its more expensive cousins are able to do such as access to movies, TV shows, apps, games, books, and more. The difference is perhaps the processing speed and time it takes to deliver your content.

For a limited time only, Amazon is offering a buy five, get one free. It may sound like a lot of money but five tablets is only $250. So for only $250 you can own six tablets for roughly the same price as a single Fire HD 10.

Kindle Fire 7 Kids Edition, 7″ Display – $99.99

The Kindle Fire 7 Kids Edition has been specially designed for kids. It has the same hardware as the Fire 7, but comes in a protective case. Due to the case it weighs 3.3 oz more than the Fire 7. The Fire 7 Kids edition is also double the price, from $49.00 to $99.99. So keep that in mind, you can basically buy two Kindle tablets for the price of one.

So why get a kids edition when you can buy two tablets? The Kids edition has a protective case to prevent damage from big drops and if that is not enough, it comes with a 2-year worry-free guarantee. The warranty covers anything that can happen to the Fire tablet, including electrical and mechanical breakdowns.

The Fire Kids Edition includes a year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, so your kids can enjoy over 10,000 kid-friendly books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, and games for free. It has been designed with kids in mind. You can set up individual profiles for kids and settings to restrict the type of content they’re viewing.

It’s definitely worth the extra money, since you can be confident the device won’t break under heavy pressure from your kids. And even if it does, it can easily be replaced.

Conclusion

Amazon’s budget friendly tablets come in an assortment of sizes and prices. You are guaranteed to find something that fits you. You may have noticed, Amazon’s goal isn’t to produce high-end tablets instead they aim to provide affordable ones.

The main reason for low-cost tablets is to provide easy accessibility to Amazon’s vast library of content. The content help increase Amazon’s profit margins and their ability to offer low competitive prices.

Amazon’s able to offer such low prices on its Fire tablets because most of their revenue come from its content. Amazon began as an online retailer for books and since then it has expanded tremendously. It has become the largest internet retailer in the world.

They make money from their content, so what better way to make money than to deliver content straight to your device. By making an affordable tablet, they allow you to easily access their content and therefore they can also maintain loyal customers.

People who own Kindles are more likely to purchase books, apps, and movies from Amazon. They may not make a lot of money initially by selling you their tablet, but they will eventually generate a profit after you shop at Amazon.

With all of the content Amazon has to offer, your tablet can easily run out of space. The standard storage for a Kindle tablet is 8 GB or 16 GB. Fortunately, every Kindle Fire comes with a microSD slot for you to expand your storage, even the $50 Fire 7 has one.

Every Kindle tablet can be expanded to 128 GB by adding a microSD card. The maximum storage possible is 192 GB (64 GB + 128 GB) of both internal and external storage. It should be more than enough to store all your movies, TV shows, apps, games, and books.

But if that isn’t enough, you can use Amazon’s cloud storage to store an unlimited amount of Amazon’s content.